Airbus booked more than 10% of its expected full-year order intake in the past four days. The aircraft maker says its Dubai air show total is 163 firm orders, or a nice $28 billion at list price.   The aircraft maker is particularly keen to tout the orders for its A350XWB, with 80 firm orders for the new ... Read More »

Embraer is optimistic Brazil’s BRA Transportes Aereas will make a come back after the carrier suspended its operations due to financial problems. The carrier is a buyer of Embraer 195 regional jets; those deliveries have now been suspended. But Luis Fernando Fuchs, who oversees regional aircraft activities at Embraer, ... Read More »

With a strong cash position, Safran is looking for buying opportunities. One of the main areas of interest, says CEO Jean-Paul Herteman, is in the security area. The goal is to beef up the Sagem Defense and Security business.
  Herteman also says the company is looking to expand, and within the next two years ... Read More »

Lockheed Martin is looking for more F-16 customers in the Middle East to help further build the backlog for the fighter.   Current deliveries are focused on Poland and Israel. The combat aircraft maker at this point has a backlog of 116 F-16s, that will see production stretch out into 2012, says Jim Franks, Lockheed ... Read More »

With six weeks left to go before it closes the books on 2007, Airbus has set a new full-year aircraft order record. Now anticipated for several weeks, the orders booked already at the Dubai air show have put Airbus above it's gross 1,111 order intake recorded in 2005.
And that's not the only record Airbus sales ... Read More »

EADS CEO Louis Gallois says he’s not looking for fresh government money to help offset the financial problems his company faces over delays in the A400M military airlifter project. Nor is he looking to get out of the fixed price development contract, he stresses.   Last week, in discussing the 1.37 ... Read More »

What’s a billionaire to do when he wants to get to the Dubai air show to sign for his newest aircraft without dealing with traffic and all those other nuisances that come with such an event?   One option, perhaps the only fitting one for the first buyer of a private A380, is to fly in. Of course, Saudi Prince ... Read More »

Boeing is making faster than expected progress on its 787 recovery program, at least in some areas, says Boeing’s Scott Carson, who just reviewed the project last week.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy from here on out. He concedes challenges remain.

However, ... Read More »

Orders to be announced at the Dubai air show in the coming days are all but certain to ensure a new full-year order record for Airbus and Boeing.
 
Both Airbus and Boeing have already surpassed the 900 order in-take level for the year going into the show. Boeing says it has secured 922 orders through October ... Read More »

Europe may be struggling to launch more than a demonstrator unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) project, but Luftwaffe chief of staff Lt. Gen. Klaus-Peter Stieglitz has some ideas of what traits an operational system must have. And, he argues, to contain costs, there must be a “multinational approach to developing ... Read More »